A liquid crystal display device includes a liquid crystal panel, and a backlight provided on a back surface side of the liquid crystal panel. The backlight includes a chassis housing a light source such as a cold cathode tube and having an opening surface on a light emitting side, and an optical member provided in an opening portion of the chassis and having a function of converting a light emitted from the light source into a uniform planar light.
The optical member includes a diffuser plate containing a plurality of diffusing particles dispersed in a transparent base material having a predetermined thickness, and an outer peripheral end portion thereof is received and supported by a catch in the chassis. Meanwhile, a more inner portion than the outer peripheral end portion of the diffuser plate is supported by a support component mounted to the chassis.
A known example of such a support component is described in Patent Document 1. This support component includes a support pin protruding toward a diffuser plate, and a tip portion of the support pin abuts at a point against a more inner portion than an outer peripheral end portion of the diffuser plate to support the diffuser plate. A plurality of support pins are arranged so as to support the diffuser plate in different positions in a plane direction.
Meanwhile, an example of a support component using a surface emitting flat lamp as a light source is described in Patent Document 2. This support component includes a linear support portion having a top extending in one direction, and linearly supports a diffuser plate.    [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-219838    [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-203164